Courtesy of St. Louis Streetcar
Though downtown saw a significant shift in demographics during the recession, from loft-dwellers to apartment renters, it still continued to add about 500 residents per year. Now, there are about 14,000 residents, says Kevin Farrell, senior director of economic and housing development at the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, and demand for new housing of all types is strong. “We’re over 90 percent occupancy with residential properties,” he says.
Three new projects are also in the works for 2014. The Lacassian Lofts, located at 2200 Locust, near Schlafly Tap Room in downtown west, will feature 27 apartments with 11-foot ceilings, exposed brick walls, and finishing options such as polished concrete floors. At the corner of Sixthand Olive streets, developer Brian Hayden is converting the former Millennium Center into Gallery 515, a mixed-use space with 102 one- and two-bedroom luxury apartments in the top half of the building. Finally, work is wrapping up at the 25-story Tower at OPOP (that percussive-sounding acronym stands for Old Post Office Plaza), formerly Roberts Tower.
Chicago developer UrbanStreet Group recently acquired some of Michael and Steven Roberts’ properties—including the Mayfair Hotel, the Lofts on the Plaza, and the Roberts Orpheum Theater—and it plans to reopen those after finishing the OPOP project. When construction began in 2010, the tower at 411 N. Eighth marked the first new high-rise residential construction downtown since 1965, but the project foundered. Now, the original 55 units have been reworked into 132 sleek apartments. These former Roberts properties, Farrell says, will be featured as part of the Downtown Living Tour on May 3.
